Quote:
Originally Posted by raulus
It certainly wouldn't hurt to have another registry, and might put SGC in a better position to capitalize if/when PSA stumbles.
In some ways, I like to think about the old monopoly that WordPerfect used to have in word processing software, with MS Word being little more than an afterthought. Most people were pretty locked into WordPerfect, enjoyed using it, memorized all of the silly function key shortcuts, etc. But eventually, WordPerfect began to stumble. Their product started losing functionality, and became riddled with bugs. Eventually, even the most die-hard supporters started to think it was time to consider an alternative.
Although they had to go kicking and screaming, in the end, even the biggest WordPerfect acolytes couldn't take it anymore, so WordPerfect died and MS Word conquered all. But if MS Word hadn't really made the effort to provide a solid product that could be a real alternative, then no one would have switched.
It usually takes some pretty big failures to get there. But the competition needs to have a compelling value proposition. Otherwise, no amount of failures by the market leader will really matter if the competition won't make the effort to really compete in all of the areas that the consumer values.
|
Pretty much the exact same thing that happened to Lotus 1-2-3 after Excel came along.
And actually, on a certain level, Microsoft did sort of the same things that PSA's Registry did when they came up with their Microsoft Works bundle. At one time they offered it to all the different computer manufacturers who could have them pre-installed on computers they sold. People got so used to using Word and Excel that all the other similar software out there became pretty much abandoned by everyone. Just like the Registry sort of took over and placed PSA at the top of the TPG heap.